Freedom of Information Act 2000 Request

For years 2016, 2017 and 2018 for each police force in England and Wales provide the number of prosecutions that were dropped or discontinued and the reason for the course of action. This should involve cases that the defendant submitted a not guilty plea at a preliminary hearing.

Request

For years 2016, 2017 and 2018 for each police force in England and Wales provide the number of prosecutions that were dropped or discontinued and the reason for the course of action. For the avoidance of doubt, this should involve cases that the defendant submitted a not guilty plea at a preliminary hearing but for whatever reason, the case against the defendant was stopped BEFORE any judicial determination on his or her guilt.

Response

Please see the attached table which provides the number of prosecutions dropped and the principal reason allocated to that outcome. The table is disaggregated by the 42 police force areas. Please note our records do not provide any indication of the hearing at which a not guilty plea was entered. This data should be read in conjunction with the caveats appended to the table.

Information Management Unit 020 3357 0899 IMU@cps.gov.uk